Greetings. As the Cycle 4369 draws to a close the galaxy is once more heading for interesting times. After decades of peace following the close of GalWar1, with only the occasional brushfire war and rim-rebellion to stir the interest of the armchair admirals, the full chaos of all out conflict lurks on the horizon like a beast of old power awakening from a long slumber. Since the Republic of Reason has historically been against the idea of the civilized galaxy collapsing like plum thrown into a blast furnace, I propose a new Galactic Institution:

The Galactic Territory Exchange!

The idea is simple. This thread will serve as a public place for empires to make deals and treaties concerning territory. This way border disputes can be resolved without all out to-the-death war, small empires can ask for and be given a start and empires with overlapping but disconnected holdings can work out a fair exchange without worrying that the other party will screw them.

Treaties will be required to have specific terms and be backed by screenshots of the area concerned (so no-one can change a bunch of names and spread confusion then break the treaty). Now, I hear what the more cynical of you are thinking. That's right, the RoR has perfected the DiatomicTransbaricThoughtwaveInterceptor! *Ahem* I mean, I know that you are thinking "That's nice and all, but I'll take some treachery, treachery, lies, treachery and a side of deceit and shouting, what are you going to do to stop me?".

Well, the GTE will have teeth. Every treaty will specify penalties for the side that breaks it and these will be enforced by GTE Compliance Fleets. These forces will be drawn from active empires of good galactic reputation willing to participate and will punish treaty infractions with complete neutrality and overwhelming firepower. Neutrality with a big N, even. No personal gain may be drawn from these actions and any empire using GTE Compliance Fleet action as a cover for personal gain will be subject to punishment to be voted on in this thread.

As a start, the RoR will pledge its fleets to the cause of supporting the GTE.

Aye, I will pledge myself to this treaty as well. But I have a question - how can a small upstart empire like mine make deals of any kind? Clearly any requests for territory will benefit me alone, as I have nothing to give in return. If there was some way to give ships to another empire maybe? I would be willing to part with the majority of the starships inherited from Bismalia, as in such numbers they are of not much use to a young empire.

Now have a look at this:

Capture.PNG (214.52 KiB) Viewed 2383 times

Where could I possibly expand without sending starships in to blitz those worlds and risk the wrath of either the Finnians, the Felor or the "Cheese Empire", the first two of which have powerful allies such as yourself? I have only taken independent worlds so far (oh and some of the RoR's unconnected worlds, sorry!), and there are precious few left of those.

Well, I would be happy to work some deal with the Finnians, as it seems the IoM has been established smack bang in the middle of one of his clusters which he probably would not be happy parting with. Look, the Finnian empire itself is spread across the whole galaxy in random small clumps, with only a substantial number of worlds in the south east.

We the Felor will gladly pledge our troops in service of this institution to put an end to its wanton reading of minds and aid its ruthless generosity in the name of galactic peace! (Oops. Did we broadcast that to everyone?)

Well, the upstart Imperium of Man has begun its reign by attacking a Felor world. Care to discuss this, Imperator? Perhaps as the first issue?

Behold my avatar, one of the few ships to be drawn out pixel by pixel in the dreaded... Microsoft Paint!
Day 31: "I have successfully completed my time reversal experiment! Muahahaha!!!"
Day 30: "I might have run into a little problem here."

Finnian. I have un-retired from playing the game and I happen to spawn in the middle of your empire. I am not sure what to do in this scenario; however, there are free planets ripe for taking. Contact me when you have found me.

P.S. I decided not to post an image, because my empire will grow exponentially within the next few hours.

Kourtious wrote:Finnian. I have un-retired from playing the game and I happen to spawn in the middle of your empire. I am not sure what to do in this scenario; however, there are free planets ripe for taking. Contact me when you have found me.

P.S. I decided not to post an image, because my empire will grow exponentially within the next few hours.

You are the New lord of Sinalost? Lord Jacobins? Welcome back in the galaxy mylord

I have a matter which I wish to put before the eyes of the Exchange: the trading of planets between the Terran and Felor Empires.

WorldsStrongestNerd wrote:I just now went thru the thread and got your message catfighter. I propose a trade. If you are rebuilding then take my sector caps in the northeast, and I will take your worlds in my large cluster to the south. I want to consolidate power there where Terran, Felor, and Finnian all meet together.

I am willing to give up the 9 Felor planets in Terran's southern cluster in exchange for the 8 Terran worlds scattered throughout my Eastern Rim Belt. Felor troops will (of course) stand impartial in this matter, but will the rest of the GTE oversee this exchange?

Behold my avatar, one of the few ships to be drawn out pixel by pixel in the dreaded... Microsoft Paint!
Day 31: "I have successfully completed my time reversal experiment! Muahahaha!!!"
Day 30: "I might have run into a little problem here."

Here, here. Tensions may almost certainly will arise if we can't consolidate enough to get some medium of efficiency. (Though I must say it was kinda fun racing you for control of that rift pocket.)

We'll have to wait a (long) moment before working anything out, though. The Republic seems rather absent from this thread and I have a sector sphere or two fully fill up before I can look at the "greater good."

Behold my avatar, one of the few ships to be drawn out pixel by pixel in the dreaded... Microsoft Paint!
Day 31: "I have successfully completed my time reversal experiment! Muahahaha!!!"
Day 30: "I might have run into a little problem here."

Yes. There are a few things in play. My worlds in your north east, your worlds in my south central, the rift pocket, and I was thinking of combining my two separate areas in the galactic east somehow. That rift pocket in particular is useless unless you have all of it. At some point in the future we may have to do some planet trading. Until then good luck.

Please forgive the woeful lack of action in support of the GTE thus far. It's just that the Exchange has been dormant for so long (over 240 cycles!) that the Republic somehow forgot all about it's duties. But no more! New Mars stands ready to witness whatever treaty the Terran and Felor people see fit to arrange and punish any and all violators with harsh measures of terrible violence. I only request that the details are clear, preferably with screenshots.